REPORTS OF CASKS. 
73 
with endocardites of the right heart; other viscera apparently 
healthy, though anaemic. 
Case III.—A young cow, five months advanced in her second 
pregnancy, had been unwell for some weeks; had temperature 
105°, obstinate constipation, rectal examination revealing a little 
bad smelling fecal matter, with considerable blood and mucus; 
anorexia. Ordered cinchona with opium and camphor, to be fol¬ 
lowed by oleaginous purgatives. Shortly afterwards I heard that 
the cow was.much better, but a few days ago the owner again 
called on me, stating that the cow was down and unable to rise. 
I requested him to telephone me when she died, and a day or two 
afterwards he did so. Post mortem showed the liver very small, 
weighing about six pounds, greenish brown in color, very soft and 
flabby; gall bladder full of bile, apparently healthy in character. 
The true liver structure was apparently lost. The kidneys very 
small, of the same color and consistence as the liver, the cortical 
portion having lost its consistence, though some traces of the 
proper structure of the medullary portion still remained. The 
other organs were healthy, though remarkably anaemic, the cow 
looking as though she had been bled to death. The intra abdom¬ 
inal fat was almost entirely removed, and the intestines were 
empty, spotted with patches of black pigment, and as white as 
though they had been washed and prepared for anatomical dem¬ 
onstration. 
These cases show the necessity for the study of comparative 
medicine. Had I been unacquainted with human pathology I do 
not think that I should have recognized the condition with which 
I had to deal. These cases were undoubtedly illustrations pro¬ 
gressive in degree of the condition of the liver found always in 
pregnant women. There is always a physiological parenchyma¬ 
tous degeneration of the liver in pregnancy, and a physiological 
anaemia. In these cases all physiological bounds had been passed, 
and the last-cited case showed acute yellow atrophy, icterus gravis. 
About the treatment of the condition when found, or its avoid¬ 
ance, I have at present nothing to say, though I hope to continue 
the investigation should more cases occur in my practice. Mean¬ 
time this condition, with its gravity, cannot be overlooked in the 
diagnosis of similar cases to the ones I have described. 
